[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 67 (Thursday, May 13, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5481-S5484]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS
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SENATE RESOLUTION 360--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT
LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION SHALL BE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE THROUGH THE
INTERNET
Mr. CORZINE (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Cornyn, Mr.
Leahy, Mr. Bingaman, and Mr. Lieberman) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules and
Administration:
S. Res. 360
Whereas an open and free exchange of information about the
legislative process is critical to ensuring the success and
health of a democracy;
Whereas the public should have easy and timely electronic
access to public records of Congress;
Whereas congressional documents that are placed in the
Congressional Record are made available to the public
electronically by the Superintendent of Documents of the
Government Printing Office, under the direction of the Public
Printer, but it is often difficult and time-consuming for the
public to access and locate such documents;
Whereas many official congressional documents are not
placed in the Congressional Record and are unavailable
electronically to the public; and
Whereas the current system for electronic public access to
legislative information and legislative resources, as
maintained by the Library of Congress, could be improved, and
should be continuously upgraded to keep pace with advances in
website technology: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the Library of Congress shall continue to provide and
maintain a website for public access to legislative
documents;
(2) the website shall provide access to as much information
about current and historical legislative documents as is
reasonably practicable;
(3) the Library of Congress shall provide sufficient
financial and personnel resources to maintain the website at
modern standards of accessibility and usability; and
(4) offices and personnel that develop and maintain
congressional documents shall cooperate to the maximum extent
practicable with the Library of Congress to ensure that the
Library of Congress website has full and prompt access to all
publicly available congressional documents.
Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, today, along with Senators McCain,
Feingold, Cornyn, Leahy, and Bingaman, I am submitting a resolution
designed to make it easier for the American people to get information
about Congress from the Internet.
Almost 10 years ago, the Library of Congress started the THOMAS
website, which was one of the first electronic references for the
public to get up-to-date information about legislation. The
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Library did a tremendous job getting THOMAS ready, and I commend their
hard work in maintaining it over the past 10 years. However, THOMAS
recently has begun to show its age. Although there have been some
improvements over time, the Library has been unable to devote the
resources necessary to keep THOMAS up to the level the public expects
for today's websites. One reason is that the Library has never been
formally told by either Chamber of Congress that it has a
responsibility to maintain a website for public access to legislative
information.
In contrast, the Congressional Research Service was given a mandate
to maintain a legislative information website for Members of Congress
and their staffs in the 1997 Legislative Branch Appropriations
conference report. The Legislative Information System that Congress
uses is vastly superior to THOMAS, both in terms of functionality and
ease of use. For example, LIS users are able to search across multiple
Congresses to find information about bills; THOMAS users must search
each Congress individually. In LIS, links to committee reports, if
available, are provided along with the basic information about a bill.
In THOMAS, a user must make a separate search to find the report. In
LIS, the names of bill sponsors can be clicked on to find other bills
sponsored by that Member; that feature is not available in THOMAS. And
anyone who has used both LIS and THOMAS has seen that the LIS site is
much more attractive and usable, and has benefited from continual
improvements that have not been matched on THOMAS. When it comes to
obtaining the public legislative information of Congress, there should
not be such a significant difference between what we use and what the
public uses.
Obviously, the American people have the right to see all the public
documents of Congress. And, if we are to be true to our nation's
democratic values, this information should be as easy to find as
possible. It is not sufficient that those who are truly interested can
make the extra effort necessary to find what they need; we should be
encouraging people to become interested. Americans should be able to
easily go to the Internet and get legislative information directly from
Congress, instead of having to rely on what they see and hear from
others. We can facilitate this by creating a visually appealing,
helpful, useful, and accessible public portal to the United States
Congress.
Although THOMAS was a good start, it badly needs to be improved. This
resolution will tell the Library of Congress that the Senate is paying
attention, and that we will insist on that improvement.
I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and help ensure we
have a public legislative information website we can be proud of.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, government transparency is fundamental to
democracy. This well-known truism is a staple of every sermon about
democracy. We sometimes take it for granted, but we shouldn't--
especially today. For one thing, the world is watching if and how we
practice what we preach. For another, during this most partisan of
political times, it is essential that citizens be able to judge us not
only on what we say, but on what we do.
Therefore, I am particularly pleased to join today with Senators
Corzine, Cornyn, Feingold, Bingaman and Lieberman to submit a
resolution that will provide citizens with expanded and more easily
accessible information about legislation and the legislative process.
In particular, we are calling on the Library of Congress to improve
its public website, called ``THOMAS,'' in order to provide as much
legislative information as is reasonably practical. In addition,
because Internet technology continues to advance so rapidly, we are
asking the Library to maintain THOMAS in a manner that reflects current
standards of accessibility and usability.
In December of 2003, together with Senator Corzine and others, I
wrote to Dr. James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, and asked him
to redesign THOMAS to provide, as much as possible, information to the
general public that is already available to congressional staff through
the congressional Legislative Information System. Dr. Billington and
his staff agreed to work with us to improve THOMAS, and the resolution
we introduce today is a result of this constructive process. I would
like to thank Dr. Billington and his staff for their cooperation and
their appreciation of the importance of this effort.
The Library of Congress has a well-known and well-deserved reputation
as a source of reliable, unbiased, and comprehensive information. Our
resolution will harness the power of the Information Age to allow
citizens to see more public records of the Senate in their official
form, in context, and without editorial comment.
The taxpayers of this country, who pay millions of dollars a year to
fund the Library of Congress, as well as to fund Congress itself,
deserve speedy access to this public information. They have a right to
see that their money is being spent well. As Thomas Jefferson wrote,
``Information is the currency of democracy.''
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SENATE RESOLUTION 361--SUPPORTING THE GOALS OF NATIONAL MARINA DAY AND
URGING MARINAS TO CONTINUE PROVIDING ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY GATEWAYS
TO BOATING
Mr. CHAMBLISS submitted the following resolution; which was referred
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation:
S. Res. 361
Whereas the people of the United States highly value their
recreational time and their ability to access the waterways
of the United States, one of the Nation's greatest natural
resources;
Whereas in 1928, the National Association of Engine and
Boat Manufacturers first used the word ``marina'' to describe
a recreational boating facility;
Whereas the United States is home to more than 12,000
marinas that contribute substantially to local communities by
providing safe and reliable gateways to boating;
Whereas the marinas of the United States serve as stewards
of the environment and actively seek to protect the waterways
that surround them for the enjoyment of this generation and
generations to come;
Whereas the marinas of the United States provide
communities and visitors with a place where friends and
families, united by a passion for the water, can come
together for recreation, rest, and relaxation; and
Whereas the Marina Operators Association of America has
designated August 14, 2004, as ``National Marina Day'' to
increase awareness among citizens, policymakers, and elected
officials about the many contributions that marinas make to
communities: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) supports the goals of National Marina Day; and
(2) urges that the marinas of the United States continue to
provide environmentally friendly gateways to boating for the
people of the United States.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise today to submit legislation
designating August 14, 2004, as National Marina Day to honor America's
marinas for their many contributions to local communities. This year's
celebration will be held in Georgia on Lake Sidney Lanier, one of the
largest U.S. Army Corps of Engineer lakes in the nation, and home to 10
marinas. National Marina Day was created by the Marine Operators
Association of America to educate civic leaders, government leaders,
and the public about the important role that the marina industry plays
in cities and towns across America as family-friendly gateways to
boating and outdoor recreation.
Georgia's Lake Lanier consists of 39,000 acres of water and 692 miles
of shoreline. The lake was originally authorized by the United States
Congress in 1946 for the purposes of power production, flood control,
downstream navigation, and fish and wildlife management. Over the
years, recreation has become a major factor in the lake's attraction to
8 million visitors each year. According to a recent study commissioned
by the Metro Atlanta Marine Trade Association, Lake Lanier generates
nearly $5.5 billion in annual economic impact from jobs created on and
around the lake, restaurants, hotels and resorts, camping and
recreation, real estate sales, boat and marine dealers, and marinas.
National Marina Day will be held for the third year in a row, is set
to have its most successful year yet, in no small part by the tireless
work of the President of the Marina Operators of Lake Lanier, Kirby Cay
Scheimann, State Representative Stacy Reece of
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Gainesville, Georgia, the President of the Marina Operators Association
of America, Bill Anderson, and the President of the International
Marina Institute, Gregg Kenney. I am grateful for all the hard work
that everyone involved has contributed to making National Marina Day a
huge success.
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SENATE RESOLUTION 362--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON THE
DEDICATION OF THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL ON MAY 29, 2004, IN
RECOGNITION OF THE DUTY, SACRIFICES, AND VALOR OF THE MEMBERS OF THE
ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES WHO SERVED IN WORLD WAR II
Mr. Graham of Florida (for himself, Mr. Specter, Mr. Edwards, Mr.
Levin, Mr. Reed, Mr. Feingold, Ms. Murkowski, Ms. Cantwell, Mrs.
Murray, Mr. Conrad, Mr. Biden, Mr. Corzine, Mr. Daschle, Ms. Stabenow,
Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Graham of South Carolina,
Mr. Talent, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Santorum, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Bond,
Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Miller, Mr. Inouye, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Stevens, Mr.
Fitzgerald, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Breaux, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Dayton, Mr.
Dorgan, Mr. Coleman, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr.
Rockefeller, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Bayh, Mr. Burns, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Reid,
Mr. Sessions, Mr. Kerry, Mr. Sarbanes, Mr. Cornyn, Ms. Collins, Mr.
Wyden, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Craig, Mr. Bunning, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kohl, Mr.
Warner, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Brownback, Ms. Mikulski, Mr.
Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Akaka, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Chafee, Mr.
Hatch, Mrs. Boxer, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Shelby, Mr. Baucus, Mr.
Durbin, Mr. McCain, Mr. Chambliss, Mr. Hollings, Mr. Lieberman, Mr.
Smith, Mr. Sununu, Mr. Nickles, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Ensign,
Mr. Carper, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Domenici, Mr. Grassley, Mr.
Enzi, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Allen, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mr. Allard) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary:
S. Res. 362
Whereas the National World War II Memorial is being
dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004, on the National Mall in
Washington, District of Columbia;
Whereas the National World War II Memorial, a monument of
granite and bronze, has a fitting location on the National
Mall situated between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln
Memorial and flanked by memorials dedicated to the members of
the Armed Forces of the United States who served and died in
the Korean War and in the Vietnam era;
Whereas the National World War II Memorial is dedicated to
the more than 16,000,000 individuals from the 48 States, the
District of Columbia, and the territories and possession of
the United States who served in the Army, Army Air Force,
Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant Marine in World
War II;
Whereas on May 29, 2004, hundreds of thousands of veterans,
and their families and friends, from across the United States
will gather on the National Mall to join in the dedication of
the National World War II Memorial and to pay homage to the
memory of the more than 400,000 members of the Armed Forces
of the United States who died while serving during World War
II and the more than 10,000,000 veterans of the Armed Forces
of the United States in World War II who have died since the
end of World War II;
Whereas on May 29, 2004, the Nation will pay tribute to all
the members of the Armed Forces of the United States who
served in World War II;
Whereas on May 29, 2004, the Nation will remember the duty,
sacrifices, and valor of the members of the Armed Forces of
the United States who served on land and sea and in the air
in the more than 89 campaigns conducted in the European and
Pacific theaters of operations in World War II;
Whereas on May 29, 2004, the Nation will acknowledge that
the men and women who served in the Armed Forces of the
United States in World War II came from all the States, the
District of Columbia, and all the territories and possessions
of the United States and represented men and women of all
races, religions, ethnic groups, professions, educational
attainments, and backgrounds, all united in the goal of
serving their Country and preserving freedom; and
Whereas construction of the National World War II Memorial
would not have possible without the donations of hundreds of
thousands of individual Americans, as well as corporations,
foundations, veterans groups, professional and fraternal
organizations, communities, and schools, who all acknowledged
that a memorial should be constructed in the National Capital
to recognize and pay tribute to the duty, sacrifices, and
valor of all the members of the Armed Forces of the United
States who served in World War II: Now, therefore be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate--
(1) to express the grateful thanks of the Nation to the
more than 16,000,000 individuals who served in the Army, Army
Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Merchant
Marine in World War II and to the millions of Americans on
the home front who contributed to the war effort during World
War II; and
(2) to recognize the dedication of the National World War
II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, District of
Columbia, on May 29, 2004, as an occasion to acknowledge and
pay tribute to the duty, sacrifices, and valor of all the
members of the Armed Forces of the United States who served
in World War II, a group known collectively as the ``Greatest
Generation''.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, on Saturday, May 29th, we will dedicate a
national memorial to the more than 16 million men and women who served
from December 1940 to August 1945 in our Army, Army Air Force, Navy,
Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines, as well as the 400,000
men and women who gave their lives during World War II.
The memorial is a fitting tribute to all who served and contributed
to the war effort at home and abroad. When visitors enter the memorial,
they are greeted with an inscription that puts the memorial, its
placement on the National Mall and its importance to our nation into
perspective: ``Here in the presence of Washington and Lincoln, one the
18th century father and the other the 19th century preserver of our
nation, we honor those 20th century Americans who took up the struggle
during the Second World War and made the sacrifices to perpetuate the
gift of our forefathers entrusted to us: a nation conceived in liberty
and justice.''
The memorial, composed of bronze and granite, has a memorial plaza
and a rainbow pool as its main features. These features symbolize the
totality of the war effort, both at home and overseas. Its two arches
depict the two theaters of the war--the Atlantic and the Pacific. The
fifty-six pillars represent every state and territory that committed
men and women to the effort. A ``freedom wall'' with 4,000 sculpted
gold stars commemorates the more than 400,000 Americans who died while
serving in the armed forces during the war.
I hope that for generations to come, this memorial, will etch into
the collective memory of all Americans who visit the sense of duty,
patriotism, valor and sacrifice of the millions of citizens--men and
women, from all walks of life, from America's farms and cities, made up
of all races, religions and ethnicities--who served and who answered
their nation's call in a time of great need.
This memorial is truly a shrine to democracy. World War II was a test
of our Nation's democracy, against the forces of fascism and
totalitarianism, which threatened to engulf the globe. Americans
combated this evil as citizens of the world's bastion of democracy. It
is only fitting that around each memorial flagpole--flying the symbol
of a free and democratic people--is inscribed, ``Americans came to
liberate, not to conquer, to restore freedom and to end tyranny.''
America's spirit was captured by President Franklin Roosevelt when he
said of his countrymen, ``They have given their sons to the military
services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels.
They have made the planes and welded the tanks, riveted the ships and
rolled the shells.'' It was through the collective contribution of
millions of Americans that victory was ultimately achieved.
At war's end, General Douglas McArthur said it best when accepting
the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo Bay, ``Today the guns are
silent. The great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The
skies no longer rain death--the seas bear only commerce--men everywhere
walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace.''
I hope that when Americans visit this memorial and pay tribute to the
millions of veterans who served to preserve our freedom, they will
realize there was a time when the mission was clear, the cause was just
and righteous and Americans were united in their quest for victory. As
a nation, we honor the memory of ordinary Americans who were asked by
their country
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to perform extraordinary feats, rose to the challenge and will forever
be remembered.
I urge my colleagues to support this resolution, that would resolve
it to be the sense of the Senate to express the grateful thanks of the
nation to the more than 16 million veterans who served in the Army,
Army Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine in
World War II and to the millions of Americans on the home front who
contributed to the war effort during World War II and to recognize the
dedication of the National World War II Memorial on the National Mall
in Washington, the District of Columbia, on May 29, 2004, as an
occasion to acknowledge and pay tribute to the duty, sacrifices and
valor of all members of the Armed Forces of the United States who
served in World War II, a group known collectively as the ``Greatest
Generation.''
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